Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Love Story of Razer and Aya Made Green Lantern a masterpiece

Guys, I feel like "Firefly" has happened all over again. According to Comic Vine, "Green Lantern the animated series", "the Clone Wars", and "Young Justice" on Cartoon Network have not been renewed. It's like the ultimate gut punch in the first three months of 2013. I'm so sad. But unlike "Firefly," "Green Lantern" had a good run and finished on top. Only it really should have been called "Red Lantern," because Razer stole every scene he was in because his back story was just too good.

Every Saturday morning, I've tuned in to DC Nation on Cartoon Network to watch "Green Lantern the Animated Series" and "Young Justice." "Green Lantern" is my favorite of the two, and I gotta say, Razer the Red Lantern totally owns Hal Jordan. I think he's just perfect.

Razer is the coolest Green Lantern character. He's so
stern and kinda awesome looking. I like his eyes.

We first got introduced to Razer in season one. At that time, he was driven by hate because of the death of his wife. He came at odds with the Green Lanterns of course (Hal Jordan and Kilowog), was their prisoner for a short time in their ship The Interceptor, and then slowly started working with them. But the most interesting thing occurred when Razer fell in love with Aya, The Interceptor's computer. As a caveat, I could be just partial to A.I.'s because my story, Slipstream, has one in it that also grapples with emotion. In the end though, all that matters is that the Razer and Aya love story had me by the jugular.

Aya was incredibly powerful. And just got more so as the series
progressed. By the series end, nothing could stop her, not even the
entire Green Lantern corps.

So Aya was just an A.I., and Hal named her this out of humorous affection. While Razer was held captive in the ship, Aya tried to speak to him about the reasons why he felt that he should be killed for his crimes (Razer was a very bad man). Aya was further surprised by his tremendous guilt (in prison Razer was forced to relive memories of his wife dying and he actually didn't mind because he loved his wife so much that it was a way for him to see her). Aya freed Razer and when she did, to her surprise, he said he would not forgive her (yes, Razer was a HUGE drama queen but don't we all love drama?)

Razer and Aya. They're so perfect together.

On a mission with Razer in tow, Kilowog remarked that Aya was only a NavCom computer and lacked a physical body (a pretty callous thing to say to someone). In response, she created a body that looked identical to Razer's dead wife.

You can probably see where this is going. Aya and Razer fell in love, and it grew over the course of two seasons, until about midway through season two where Razer broke Aya's heart. You see, she returned to The Interceptor and reassembled her body after a devastating altercation that left her without one. She wanted assistance from Razer to help her coordinate with the defense of Ysmault when Razer said, "I don't love you because you're just a machine with the appearance of my deceased wife." Yes ladies, men can say the wrong things sometimes, and this was a doozy. I think there's a ratio between the hotter the guy is to the more damaging his "off the cuff" comments can be.

Anyway, Razer left the room and Aya was devastated. Aya approached Hal to be consoled, saying she was feeling tremendous pain and didn't know how to deal with it. They were just about to engage in battle with an army of Manhunters and the Anti-Monitor himself (this guy is very powerful). During the battle Aya could not perform at full capacity as the emotions crippled her performance. When she asked advice from Razer (the man she loved) he said "focus ahead and shut everything else down."

Aya in Razer's arms. The girl always falls for the bad guy with a ton of
emotional baggage that just happens to be drawn really well. Right ladies?

Aya realized that they would lose the battle unless she shut down all of her emotions. She went to The Interceptor's Power Battery and sapped ALL OF ITS GREEN LANTERN ENERGY. Like seriously (and that's a lot). Now at super-peak capacity, she launched an attack at the Anti-Monitor himself (leader of all the robotic Manhunters). She easily carved a path toward the Anti-Monitor, destroying everything in her way like Red Lantern spacecraft (not all Red Lanterns are cool like Razer) and a few dozen Manhunters. With her incredible powers, she blew up the Anti-Monitor's head and integrated herself into the Anti-Monitor's body (claiming all of his immense power for herself). She reactivated the Manhunters under her control and installed herself as their queen. She declared that she rejects all beings driven by their emotions because emotions cause only pain and suffering. And then she decided to remake the universe.

"Bow before me! For I am the Anti-Monitor!" Seriously...this guy was a badass.

In the clip below, Razer turns himself into a red bullet that's fired from Kilowog's huge gun. It's completely amazeballs and I think you should watch it. Red energy defeats green energy in case you don't know...

So basically, Aya goes back into time over the course of the remaining episodes all the way to the Big Bang (all of this is possible because of the Anti-Monitor's power). Only at the moment of creation, Razer tries to kill her but can't bring himself to do it and she blasts him. Razer is near death and Aya panics. She decides that she can't live in a universe without him. So she stops her nefarious plan and returns to the present time with Razer in order to save his life. It's proof that love conquers all.

A good girl gone bad. This is evil Aya. Or more appropriately,
emotionless Aya. Behind her is the army of Manhunters. She's standing
in the shell of the Anti-Monitor in this screenshot.

She confesses that she replicated herself in all of the Manhunters and dispatches a computer virus to kill all aspects of her so that the universe will never be in danger again. Only this also kills the primary Aya, and she dies in Razer's arms.

I was like "OMG...this is so sad. This cartoon is going to make me cry." Here's the entire scene where Aya dies at the end of "Dark Matter," the last episode of an incredible series. Please watch and grab some tissues. It's heart-wrenching knowing all the loss that Razer has suffered and endured.

The love story of Razer and Aya made Green Lantern a masterpiece, and I think Razer is one of the greatest villains turned good guy that I've ever seen. Thank you DC Nation, I shall miss you.

@Andrew: Unfortunately yes. I'm so sad. I shall blog about it this week. My whole A to Z challenge is going to be about the clone wars, starting with "A" for Ahsoka. In doing the posts, I came across the news. The Clone Wars ends with season 5 and the departure of Ahsohka Tano who left the Jedi order (that episode was heart wrenching).

I liked Razer because he was different and badass. Aya never really grew on me until the last moment when she sacrificed herself to save the world. But I saw that coming. The writers of these shows make their plotlines so predictable and sappy it's no wonder their target audience isn't tuning in. Not to mention, I hate the animation. Good grief it works for Clone Wars but not for a "high action" show like Green Lanturn. It was sluggish. They should've animated it in 2D like Young Justice! (My favorite cartoon btw)

I watched some episodes here and there, whenever someone sent me a link to it online. Young Justice was the same. To me, these producers need new material instead of repackaging the same crap over and over. That is an epic fail. That is why their shows got canceled.

I think you should write a script for a cartoon show, Michael. Write a pilot, hire an artist to make a 2 minute reel and pitch them an adaptation of your novel--or whatever.

In the future, all TV shows will be streamed via Netflix and its clones, and shows will only be cancelled when they don't generate enough views to warrant them continuing. As long as the makers are willing to make them, they will be able to find an outlet with which to get them to viewers.

Sorry. I let my fantasy world out of my head again. Just a sec and I'll jam it back...

I have to confess, I had no idea there was even a show like this on TV. All I know about Green Lantern is based on the jokes from Big Bang Theory. Judging by your story breakdown, I've gotta say this show is nothing like the cartoons I grew up on -- it's much more complex and deals with adult emotions.

How about T.D.'s suggestion that you write a show, Michael? I think you'd create something very intriguing and intelligent and yes, addictive.

Ffs! Cartoon Netwrok always shut down the greatest tv series! I mean from what I read somewhere, was that they only shutdown the Green Lantern series because it didn't sell enough figurines!!! That annoys me so much!!!

True. But they left the Green Lantern story on such a cliffhanger! I mean what about Sinestro's turn to fear? Or the Black/White Lantern Corps? Or more importantly a followup on Razer's rise to becoming a blue lantern and his ongoing search for (a possibly alive and renewed) Aya?

@Adi: Oh I agree perfectly with everything you're saying. I hate cliffhangers (and it's so much worse when they go unresolved) and I hate that this series got canceled. I really got attached to the characters, Razer in particular.

@Adi: Blue lantern concept art? Yes, please :) I would have loved to see that. For what it's worth, I'm also upset that Beware the Batman got canned too. I guess anything DC that isn't Teen Titans Go is cursed.

I'm coming in a bit late, but I always thought Aya was so adorable, and since Razer was super cool, and relatable with anger problems, I really wanted them to get together. I stuck through all of the things he said that we all know he didn't mean to say, and in the end, I guess even for a moment, they both loved each other fully at the same time. I really hope he finds her scattered somewhere in some computers, like how Jarvis tore himself apart in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The only people Razer has ever loved have died.